LONDON - Camel caravans crossing desert dunes, merchants trading silks and spices at bazaars – these are the images that come to mind when we think of the Silk Roads. But the reality goes far beyond this.

A ground-breaking new exhibition at the British Museum, Silk Roads, will challenge and expand the modern popular concept of the ‘Silk Road’ as a simple history of trade between ‘East’ and ‘West’. In fact, rather than a single trade route, the Silk Roads were made up of overlapping networks linking communities across Asia, Africa and Europe, from Japan to Britain, Scandinavia to Madagascar.

Ambitious in its scope and vast in its geographical coverage, this major new show will be the first to look at how the epic journeys of people, objects and ideas along the Silk Roads shaped cultures and histories. The Silk Roads were in use for millennia, and the forthcoming exhibition will focus on a defining period in their history, from about AD 500–1000. These centuries saw significant leaps in connectivity and the rise of universal religions that linked communities across continents.

Structured into five geographical zones that take visitors on their own Silk Roads journey, the exhibition showcases more than 300 objects – including generous loans by 29 lenders from national and international institutions. From Indian garnets found in Suffolk to Iranian glass unearthed in Japan, they reveal the astonishing reach of these networks.

Many of the items will be on display in the UK for the very first time, including the oldest group of chess pieces ever found and a monumental six-metre-long wall painting from the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ in Afrasiab (Samarkand), Uzbekistan. The painting evokes the cosmopolitanism of the Sogdians from Central Asia who were great traders during this period.

Other items on loan come via new partnerships with museums in both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, demonstrating the importance of Central Asia in this continent-spanning tale. Silk Roads will also be the first exhibition in the Museum’s history to have a multi-curatorial approach, featuring objects from across the institution.

Visitors will also meet figures whose stories are entwined with the Silk Roads, including Willibald, an ingenious balsam smuggler from England, and a legendary Chinese princess who shared the secrets of silk farming with her new kingdom. Covering deserts, mountains, rivers and seas, the Silk Roads tell a story of connection between cultures and continents, centuries before the development of the globalised world we know today.

Luk Yu-Ping, Basil Gray Curator of Chinese Paintings, Prints and Central Asian Collections adds: “Our aim in this exhibition is to tell a richer, more complex story of the Silk Roads beyond trade between East and West, highlighting the interconnectedness of Asia, Africa and Europe during the period from AD 500 to 1000. We are very excited about the incredible, first-time loans that will be featured alongside key British Museum objects. This has been a truly collaborative effort, very much in the spirit of the Silk Roads.”

Sue Brunning, Curator of European Early Medieval & Sutton Hoo Collections, said: “It's tremendously exciting to expand the Silk Roads story into parts of the world that are not traditionally associated with its popular image – including here in Britain. For instance, visitors will encounter a whalebone box made in the northeast of England, but carved with stories, histories and languages drawn from the wider world. It’s an astonishing piece that really encapsulates the transcontinental breadth of connectivity between AD 500 and 1000.“

Elisabeth R. O’Connell, Byzantine World Curator, comments: “This Silk Roads story comprises many journeys that span the distance from the Pacific to the Atlantic. From empires to individuals, we’ve aimed to show the range of networks that facilitated movement, both voluntary and involuntary. It is a huge privilege for us to bring the stories of diplomats and pilgrims, scholars and students, refugees and captives, traders and traded to our visitors.”

Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the British Museum, comments: “The British Museum is world renowned for its gripping, award-winning exhibitions which I’ve always admired. Silk Roads will be the first to open since I became Director, and I was particularly impressed by the way that it challenges existing perspectives while also involving deep collaboration – with departments across the Museum working together to bring it to its ambitious, compelling fruition.”

The Huo Family Foundation said: “The Foundation is delighted to continue its partnership with the British Museum with the support of Silk Roads. Aligned with our commitment to fostering education, enriching communities, and advancing the pursuit for knowledge, we are pleased to enable a show that highlights the rich and diverse history of the Silk Road. Through showcasing the depth of the Museum's collections and strength of its curatorial team, we are proud to witness a celebration of cultural exchange and discovery.”

Silk Roads will run from 26 September 2024 – 23 February 2025 in The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery at the British Museum.

Ceramic figure of a camel, Tang dynasty (618–907) ©The Trustees of the British Museum

Glazed ceramic figurines made for burials in Tang dynasty China (618–907) include lively representaEons of camels bearing goods that were imported and exported from the realm. This example from Luoyang depicts a dual - humped Bactrian camel laden with coiled silk, folded fabric, a West or Central Asian ewer and possibly a piece of rib meat, next to bags covered with monster masks.

Ivory chess pieces, India, around AD 500 © ACDF of Uzbekistan, Samarkand State Museum Reserve

This set of seven ivory chess pieces is the oldest set known to this day. It was excavated at the archaeological site of Afrasiab in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Coin finds from the same excavated layer help date it to AD 700s . Probably originating in India around AD 500, the game of chess spread to the Sasanian empire, then across the Islamic world and to Europe.

Wall painting from the south wall of the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ (Panoramic),  Afrasiab (Samarkand), 8th century © ACDF of Uzbekistan, Samarkand State Museum Reserve.  Photo By Andrey Arakelyan

This wall painting comes from a reception hall belonging to a Sogdian aristocrat in Afrasiab (Samarkand). Sogdians from Central Asia were once great traders of the Silk Roads. The reception hall includes depictions of figures from neighbouring and distant lands as far as the Korean Peninsula. This section of the wall painEng shows a ceremonial procession on its way to pay tribute to the ancestors of the ruler of Samarkand . It highlights the prosperity and cosmopolitan ism of the Sogdians in their homeland.

Wall painting from the south wall of the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ (close up), ,  Afrasiab (Samarkand), 8th century © ACDF of Uzbekistan, Samarkand State Museum Reserve. Photo By Andrey Arakelyan. 

Detail showing the two camel riders within the procession.

‘The Franks Casket', Anglo-Saxon, early 8th century ©The Trustees of the British Museum

The imagery on this casket draws on Christian traditions, northern - European mythology, and Jewish and Roman history, and is captioned in Latin and runic Old English, all evoking the designer’s worldly knowledge. The inscription on the front panel commemorates the whale from whose bones it was carved.

Gold Shoulder Clasp, Early Anglo-Saxon, c. AD 560/70-610. ©The Trustees of the British Museum

The famous ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk contained the finest known examples of garnet cloisonné metalwork. Scientific analysis undertaken for this exhibition has traced the gems on this shoulder clasp to distant sources. In the curved part of the clasp, the bodies of two boars are formed by purple-red Indian garnets. Their bristly backs are tiny orange-red Bohemian (Czech) and Sri Lankan gems.

Ceramic figure of a lute player, Tang dynasty (618–907) © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

This figure of a female musician from Tang dynasty (618–907) China was intended for burial as part of a larger ensemble. She holds a pear-shaped lute (Chinese: pipa ) that was introduced to China from India and Central Asia in earlier times. During the Sui (581–618) and Tang dynasties, imported music, such as from India, Bukhara and Samarkand, played using the lute and other instruments , was systematically integrated into the court music repertoire

Map of the world from al-Idrisi’s Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikh0raq al-afaq (Pleasure of He who Longs to Cross the Horizons), 1533 manuscript of a 1154 original. © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.

This map was originally drawn by al-Idrisi (active 1154) for the Christian king of Sicily, Roger II (r. 1130–54). It follows a tradition in Islamic mapmaking that orientates the world southwards and places the centre of the world in Mecca, the focus of Muslim pilgrimage. It shows Arabia as part of the wider world of Afro-Eurasia, illustrating its connection to the Mediterranean coastline extending to the Iberian Peninsula and eastward across the Indian Ocean, reaching China.

Glass drinking horn, Italy, AD 550–600. © The Trustees of the Bri5sh Museum

The Lombards, who had migrated to Italy from Pannonia (Central Europe) in AD 568, assumed and adapted many aspects of Byzantine life, from poliEcal infrastructure to fashions and tableware. This elegant drinking - horn, found at Sutri in Italy, is a characteristically northern European form but craced in cobalt-blue Mediterranean glass.

Dagger and sheath decorated with gold, garnets and glass, Korea, AD 400s. Treasure 635. Photo: Gyeongju National Museum, Korea.

From the AD 300s to early 500s, high-status individuals in the kingdom of Silla in the Korean peninsula were buried with lavish gold and imported objects. This dagger with an elaborately decorated sheath was discovered in a tomb belonging to two men buried in the early AD 500s in Gyeongju, the capital of Silla. It is adorned with gold mounts set with garnets and glass, a technique that developed in the Black Sea, Caucasus or West Asia. Its lower part has a distinctive trapezoid shape that was popular in northwest China and Central Asia. This sheathed dagger is believed to have travelled far to reach the Korean peninsula.
 

Blue and white ceramic dish, Gongxian kilns, China, AD 830s. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum, Tang Shipwreck Collection.

In the early AD 800s a ship sank near Belitung Island, Indonesia. Likely returning from southern China to the Arabian peninsula, it was loaded with a huge cargo of over 60,000 items, including this rare blue and white ceramic dish – one of only three to survive from the shipwreck. This colour palette wasn't popular in Tang China so the dish was probably made for foreign markets.

Gilded silver cup from the Galloway Hoard, Scotland, about AD 650–800. Photo © National Museums Scotland.

This lidded vessel, part of the richest group of Viking-age objects ever discovered in Britain, conveys surprising links between Scotland and West Asia. Recent analysis has traced the cup's black inlay to a silver mine in present-day Iran, and its flaming pillar motifs resemble Zoroastrian fire-altars in Sasanian art. Textile wrappings preserved on its surface and within include the earliest known silk found in Scotland.

Sketch on paper of envoys with horse and camel, China, AD 966. © The Trustees of the British Museum

This lively sketch was made in Dunhuang, a Buddhist centre in northwest China, when it was under the rule of local forces that pledged allegiance to Chinese imperial dynasties. Envoys, wearing the headdress of government officials, are shown travelling with a horse and a camel that were probably intended as a tribute, since they carry no burdens. The sketch evokes the frequent diplomatic missions that were exchanged between rulers along the eastern ends of the Silk Roads. It was preserved in a cave sealed in the early 11th century and accidentally discovered in 1900.

Painting on a wooden panel of the 'silk princess', China, probably about AD 600–800. © The Trustees of the British Museum

The image on this votive panel from Dandan Uiliq, Khotan in northwest China, is believed to tell the story of a Chinese princess who smuggled silkworm eggs and mulberry seeds in her headdress as she travelled to marry the king of Khotan. The princess is shown with a basket of what may be silkworm cocoons, and to her right is a female figure at a loom. Between them is a figure with four arms who is perhaps the patron deity of weaving. By the AD 600s, the secrets of silk farming had spread to Khotan, where there was a flourishing textile industry.

Decorated gold bowl, Romania, about AD 750–800. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Photo: KHM-Museumsverband.

This bowl is from a large gold hoard found at Sânnicolau Mare (formerly Nagyszentmiklós) in Romania. It is associated with the Avars, an originally nomadic people from the northeast Asian steppe. They migrated west and established a multi-ethnic realm in Central Europe by the AD 500s. This dramatic scene of a griffin mauling a goat may have adapted motifs known to the Avars from Byzantine, Sasanian and Islamic silks.

Section of a wall painting from the Palace of Varakhsha, Uzbekistan, about AD 730. Collection of the State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan. Photo by Andrey Arakelyan.

This vibrant wall painting evokes the cosmopolitanism of the Sogdians from Central Asia, who were renowned long-distance traders. Created for the Palace of Varakhsha near Bukhara in present-day Uzbekistan, it shows a hero fighting wild beasts from an elephant's back, a composition that may relate to imagery from India or local beliefs, or perhaps represent a battle against invading forces. The painting was created after Arab armies had conquered Bukhara in AD 709, raising the possibility that the imagery was deliberately enigmatic to avoid censure.
 

Silk sleeve panel showing equestrian figures, Egypt, about AD 600–900. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Tunics were part of typical dress for men and women in the Byzantine empire. Decorative elements could be woven into the fabric or applied as panels and trimmings. Raw silk and fabric were imported from the east until about the AD 500s, when sericulture (the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk) was established in Byzantium. This fragment of a silk panel, from Akhmim in Egypt, embellished a tunic sleeve. It shows two horsemen trampling armed soldiers, framed by verdant plants.